City to meet with duelling downtown business owners
By Kyra Hoggan
A meeting will have to happen within the next 30 days to resolve a dispute between the city and two downtown business owners, after council’s regular meeting Monday night became contentious.
According to councillor and Planning and Development Committee chair Kevin Chernoff, the issue arose as the result of the city sending ‘unsightly premises’ notification to the owner of 1209, 1217 and 1224 3St. and 310 Columbia Ave., that he would have 14 days to remediate damaged windows and stucco, or the city would proceed with same at the owner’s expense.
“The city was about to put a motion forward to repair the windows and stucco, and we notified the property owner with an invitation to come speak to the issue,” Chernoff said, adding the issue of boarded-up windows and unsightly stucco have been ongoing for at least a year or two now.
The owner, Basil McLaren, accepted the invitation, arguing before council that the damage was the result of intoxicated patrons from the nearby Element Night Club, Bar and Grill, citing as many as 28 broken windows costing as much as $1,500 each to replace. He said the Element’s failure to comply with its Good Neighbour Agreement (signed upon opening) was the root of the problem, not an unreasonable lack of upkeep.
Element owner Florio Vassilakakis was not at the meeting to rebut, but made it clear in subsequent media interviews that the Element is, in fact, not to blame – that vandalism occurs on nights when the club isn’t even open, and owners have cooperated fully with the city and RCMP to address any issues that arise and keep the club’s negative impact to a minimum.
Chernoff said the last thing council wants is to foster ill-will among business owners, and to that end deferred the bylaw decision for 30 days, with the expectation of a meeting between council, Vassilakakis, McLaren and probably the RCMP.
“We’d like to see this resolved amicably – hopefully we can broker some sort of agreement that all parties are at least reasonably happy with,” he said, explaining the 30-day deadline is intended to prevent the issue from dragging on at the expense of city residents who want an appealing downtown core. “It’s not something anyone wants to see continue.”
McLaren has been at loggerheads with council before, launching a Supreme Court challenge of the city’s decision to tear down the City Centre Motel (for both cosmetic and public safety reasons). The city ultimately won, and the property was razed, with the expense charged to McLaren’s property taxes.
